OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
Is Brian Laundrie a serial killer?
The suspicion has been raised by Duane Chapman, who is better known as “Dog the Bounty Hunter.”
There is a wide array of speculation and conspiracy theories about Laundrie since his fiancée, Gabby Petito, was found dead in Wyoming.
Fugitive Brian Laundrie remains “a person of interest” in Petito’s death, but he has not been charged.
Dog the Bounty Hunter claims that Laundrie could a be serial killer based on his penchant for violent and gory books and films.
“I’m thinking more and more about him being maybe a serial killer, not just a killer of Gabby,” Chapman said.
“The books he read are unbelievable,” he told The U.S. Sun magazine.
“A couple of the books that he’s been reading are 10 times worse than Dungeon and Dragons,” he continued.
“This kid, Brian has taken those books, obviously to heart,” he said, although He is wanted for allegedly using someone’s bank card illegally on his return trip to Florida without her.
“And this is what happens when your kid is looking at those kinds of things,” Chapman continued. “He just overnight just didn’t become a killer.”
“A killer is made, and he is built to be or she, a killer.”
“He built himself to be that by looking at that kind of, let’s say the dark side stuff. There are pictures of demons all over it,” Chapman concluded.
Here’s more on the alleged dark side of Brian Laundrie via Western Journal:
Laundrie himself wrote on Instagram about how he and Petitio read the 2002 Chuck Palahniuk novel “Lullaby,” in which a journalist unwittingly memorizes a “culling song” that has the power to kill those who irritate or annoy him.
The young man even explained at length the degree to which the novel’s language impacted him, pontificating in the post that, “Reading is different than any other consumption of media, it takes more effort than staring at a screen half alive, it allows you to use your brain rather than melt it, and there is no author more stimulation to me than Chuck Palahniuk.”
Palahniuk was a favorite of Laundrie’s, and his Instagram features posts about and artwork from the novel and film adaptation of “Fight Club” as well, along with art fitting to the name he chose for himself on the social media network, @Bizarre_Designs.
One drawing he posted that captured the attention of netizens was a man with a wolf face holding a bloody knife. Another depicted a herd of sheep being overseen by creepy figures wielding scythes that was captioned, “Grim Reaper leading sheep to the slaughter.”
Now, Laundrie’s book preferences and art style are by no means irrefutable evidence that killed his fiancée — again, he has also not yet been accused of killing her by law enforcement. We simply can’t go accusing every young post-millennial man of being a murderous domestic abuser or depraved serial killer just because he has picked up a Palahniuk novel or dabbled in bloody artwork.
On Tuesday, the Teton County coroner’s office announced that Petito died of strangulation. The #vanlife blogger, who had a strong social media following for whom she documented her travels with Laundrie, was reported missing by her family several days after Laundrie returned to the Florida home the couple shared with his parents in Florida…